Hi Enis, Christmas Beetles feed on gum leaves and their chewing causes a characteristic zig-zag hole in the leaves. Young Christmas Beetles, called Curl Grubs, live in the soil and feed on plant roots and organic matter. You can feed adult beetles with small branches of gum leaves placed in a jar of water to keep them fresh. Spray the beetles with clean water once a day and change the gum when it no longer looks fresh.

Because of their different food needs, adult beetles and grubs are found in different habitats – gum trees for the adults and pasture for the grubs. They are therefore most common in suburban parklands or the edges of farmland.

Adult beetles have stout mouthparts but don’t bite, but their strong claws can get a firm grip on your hand if you let them.

Elizabeth Walsh
30 November, 2011 11:02

As a member of the local Friends of Native Wildlife in Bayside, our bushland crew have seen on two occasions at the beach recently a wasp spider. Suggested it is an import. What would be the best place to investigate this for our local knowledge please.

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tahlia
21 December, 2011 23:05

hi im the bug freak of my school same with animals but im more focussed at bugs right now the flowers were out a while ago matis nyphs everywhere! i got the name bug girl for a obvious reason . i've read every bug book in my library . my fave bugs are matids and rino beetles. my fav thing to do is catch centipedes at my uncles farm even though i've been bitten 2wice

Hi Alex, thank you for your offer of centipedes. A centipede display currently exists in Bugs Alive, in the section that deals with venoms (opposite the screen playing bug horror movies). We also have Ethmostigmus rubripes in our collection but, as we have only one place to display centipedes, this species rotates on display with species of desert centipedes.

Carol
14 January, 2012 13:52

I have searched the Internet to find a beetle that is in plague proportions in our Eycalypts.
Millions of them.
They have: six legs; grass green bodies; a small band of orange at the tail; a small band of orange below the head and they are orange underneath?
Can anyone tell me what they are and should I be worried?
If they are a problem, what should I do?
Thanks

The Discovery Centre has received many enquiries over the last few weeks about swarms of beetles in suburban gardens in and around Melbourne; they are Plague Soldier Beetles, Chauliognathus lugubris.

Take a look at our recent 'Question of the week blog' on these beetles to see if yours are the same please note that for homeowners who may be hosting huge numbers of this colourful species, don't be too concerned, following the mating swarm the beetles tend to disperse.

If these are not the same as the beetles at your house the Discovery Centre does offer an identification service

Hi Finn, We don't have a Green Headed Ant colony at Melbourne Museum - we have Green Tree Ants, Meat Ants, Jumping Jacks and Bullants. We can't find any records for the precise timing of nuptial flights for this species, but it is most likely early spring. If you know the location of current nests, the best bet for obtaining a queen is to search for queens returning from their flights on warm spring afternoons.

robert
25 May, 2012 22:03

What do you guys feed your giant burrowing roaches and are they handable for educational purposes?

We forwarded your enquiry to Museum Victoria’s Live Exhibits team, the Museum’s animal keepers, who responded with the following information:

Giant Burrowing Cockroaches feed on dead gum leaves in the wild, collecting them from the forest floor and dragging them into their burrows as stored food. In captivity, they will also readily feed on finely chopped apple, as well as carrot and cucumber.

They are definitely handleable but can be easily overhandled. Opinions differ on this subject, but there is anecdotal evidence that too much handling can shorten their lives. If they are taken out of their enclosure and handled more than once a day, we suspect it will have a detrimental effect.

Hi Kade, antlions are relatively easy to look after but are not particularly exciting pets as they are invisible most of the time. You need fairly loose, dry sand and a good supply of ants. The antlions will set up their own pits if the sand is right, and they’ll require a spray of water every day or so.

Small ants are preferable, and it’s best to keep adding ants at regular intervals so there is a steady supply. When fully fed, the antlions will pupate at the base of the pit and emerge some time later, the time taken depending on the species.

If you’re willing to drop some spiny stick insects to the Museum, we’re always happy to add them to our collection.

This species was named by Jack Hasenpusch whose home at Innisfail was devastated by Cyclone Larry in 2006. Much of the surrounding rainforest was also devastated, and many stick insects were collected (including new species) as they escaped from trees that were destroyed.

Hi Duke, the term devil spider seems to apply to a number of spiders that people consider frightening. Did you have a particular species of spider you were interested in?

Paul Seymour
11 December, 2013 15:38

I'm currently trying to find some Harlequin Bugs that I can use in my short film. Not to be harmed of course, purely to capture shots of them on film. Where should I start looking to find or buy some? Thoughts?

We are wondering how to keep soldier beetles alive in our bug viewer long enough to observe them at close quarters (before releasing)? Our children are fascinated by them. What do soldier beetles eat? Do they have temp requirements? Thank you :-)

Hi Grace! Adult Soldier Beetles are attracted to many flowering plants. They love sunflowers and milkweeds. They eat nectar, pollen, secretions from damaged trees and also smaller insects such as aphids and other small pests. Temperature ranges found in our local gardens are fine. A suitable habitat should include an area with moist mulch.

Kathy stubberfield
16 March, 2014 18:25

I would like to set up some permanent public insect displays. Can you help me? Or point me in the right direction.

Hi, I am a kinder teacher and really enjoy helping the children enjoy studying bugs of all sorts. Recently we were lucky enough to find a case moth larvae. We have it in a tank with sticks and native foliage including correas. We spray some water in for moisture and he moves about a lot lugging his case. Is there anything in particular we should know about looking after it properly? I know they can live for 2 years in this state but of course we don't know how old it is. Are there any plants in particular we should provide it with? Also, how long will it stay in the case as it becomes a moth? Kind regards, Rebecca...

Saunder's Case Moth (Metura enlongatus) caterpillars grow within their case until finished feeding, then seal the bag and transform into a pupa (chrysalis). They feed on a range of Eucalyptus, Acacia, cypress and Cotoneaster, as well as other native and ornamental plants. The best strategy is to collect small branches of the plants where the caterpillar was found, put them in its enclosure and observe what it eats.

The timing of the life cycle depends a lot on the temperature it's kept at and, as you mentioned, how old it was when found. After pupating, an adult male or female will emerge. The male is orange and black and furry, and leaves the case to fly off in search of a mate. The female is wingless and remains in the case until she dies, waiting for a male to arrive. You'll know when it pupates as it will stop moving around and feeding, and will seal up the case.

Hi Lillie, one of the interesting butterflies at the Museum that is toxic is the Wanderer or Monarch Butterfly. This species only arrived in Australia around 1871 but is well known for its amazing migratory flights in North America that involve millions of individuals. This beautiful butterfly also feeds on particular plants from which it stores substances that make all stages of the butterfly from caterpillar to adult unpalatable to predators such as birds, lizards and frogs. Interestingly according to the Australian Musuem a number of bird species in Australian have been seen feeding on the butterfly.

sarah
27 June, 2014 17:23

i have found a cyclone larry stick insect, how do i care for it? is it like other stick insects? i am in a rush. i am keeping it with my katydid, i have a lot of insects at home.

If you've found a Cyclone Larry Stick Insect (Sipyloidea larryi), it means you found it in North Queensland. If you bought it, were given it or found it elsewhere, it is probably a different species. Cyclone Larry Stick Insects are easy to look after and feed on a range of plant species, including gum trees, Acacias, Callistemon and even rose bushes and blackberry bushes. They should be kept in an enclosure about three times the body length, and sprayed daily with clean water.

Hi Sarah, Stick insect legs and antennae are segmented and designed to break off between segments under pressure. The remaining segment quickly heals over with no further damage or stress to the insect. Young insects will regrow segments in the next moult, but adults just live without the missing part.

Samuel
21 July, 2014 09:52

My names Samuel and I like snails, I am doing a project on bugs and I want to know what colours snails can be?
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Yours truly Samuel

Hi Callum, we checked with one of our experts from the Live Exhibits crew, and he says that assuming you're referring to nuptial flights of bullants or similar, they fly in late summer and are particularly prominent on top of Mount Dandenong where enormous balls of writhing bullants fall from the sky when the female can no longer carry the weight of the courting males.

Hi Sarah, there are quite a few sites online suggesting various remedies. It can sometimes be confusing as what we call the Harlequin Bug, Dindymus versicolor is a different species to what the Americans call the Harlequin Bug. The information below is on the ABC show Gardening Australia website from 2006 on how to get rid of Dindymus versicolor.

The answer is to get the cheapest possible detergent and make a strong solution with water. Spray it on the clusters in the morning when they're out in the sun. It gets into their breathing tubes at the sides of their body, blocks them up, and they are so brilliantly dead.

Beth Pert
8 December, 2014 22:18

Hi, I'm doing my Grade 4 project at school about Invertebrates. I've chosen the Desert Millipede and wondered if there are any on display in the museum?
Thanks
Beth

We have checked the museum displays and report that only the Giant Millipedes from Queensland is currently on display. You will find these live specimens in “Bugs Alive” within the section “Bugs live almost everywhere”.

We hope you find this information useful, and should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Discovery Centre.

The Spiny Leaf insect (Extatosoma tiaratum) will grow to 150mm long feeding on plant foliage. It prefers fresh (changed twice a week) greenery from wattle, eucalypt, rose and blackberry plants and will feed mostly at night. Interestingly if they are feed Native Mulberry they may change their colour from brown to green.

NL
23 December, 2014 11:46

I have found a praying mantid which i can't identify, can you help:
- It is pale brown with a dark brown line down the abdomen its eyes are a turquoise - green colour. It is very slender.
Do you know what species it is?
Thanks

Hi Sarah, we checked with our Live Exhibits team, and they have said that over its lifetime, a female Spiny Stick Insect Extatosoma tiaratum can produce more than 1000 eggs, so yours has a long way to go!

Hi Jan, unfortunately we don't have any live butterflies at present in Bugs Alive! You may already know but the Melbourne Zoo has a butterfly house.

Greer
3 March, 2015 16:11

Hi, I found a female children's stick insect which was crushed in the recent storms. It has died. I'd really like to see a male and a female pair who are alive. Do you have then in the Bugs Alive display?

Hello Greer - Children's Stick Insects Tropidoderus childreni can be seen almost all the time in the stick insect display in Bugs Alive. There are usually quite a few other species in there as well, so finding the ones you're interested in may require patience.

Michelle de Silva
9 June, 2015 22:17

We visited the Museum on Monday 8th June and spent a long time at the Bugs Alive exhibit - our favourite! We were fascinated to watch the female mantis. She was hanging upside down from with the male hanging on to her and there was movement in her abdomen. Were they mating? Was the female laying eggs? Something had been happening over hours but we couldn't stay to see the conclusion.

The Rainforest Mantid (Hierodula majuscula) you saw was mating with a male. He approaches her very cautiously because, if she's hungry and not in the mood for mating, she will often consider him prey. Mating can take 24 hours or more (so luckily you didn't wait until the end). If the male stays attached for too long, she may turn around and eat his head, and he also takes a while to plan his escape as she may grab him as soon as he lets go. Studies have shown that males often perform better after she has eaten his head, because the removal of his brain also removes an inhibitor that reduces his performance. Consuming the male also provides extra protein for egg production. The female will lay an ootheca (egg sac) a couple of weeks after mating.

Thanks for the question! The time of year that we Australians see these insects along the East coast of Australian is the reason for their common name. In summer they are commonly are found eating eucalyptus leaves. You may be interested to read more at the following CSIRO websites here and here.